For a while I have had a hankering to start writing up the rides I do on some sort of website. I thought an account (including GPS trace and whatnot) might be useful to others trying to hunt down info on a ride, as well as a record for myself of what I've got up to. As an example, there is a 'Border Raid' account on
this page which for me was an important part of deciding to ride that event.
However, the recent "is growth possible in audax" discussion got me thinking. Perhaps it would be more useful to put some time towards a slightly different concept, which would be more of a "brochure" style website featuring particular rides in a less personal style - but still at greater length than the AUK calendar entry.
I think it's important to underline that this would not be a replacement for, or in any other way seek to change the actual AUK site (which many people are perfectly happy with, and fair enough).
Instead, it would be a separate and complimentary entity oriented towards all the potential riders out there, just like you and I, who have not made the leap to actually taking part (for reasons which I believe are mainly informational and not due to any actual inability to ride and enjoy a route).
In a nutshell, I imagine it "featuring" particular rides, with maps / traces, photos if possible (aware that I've never managed to take any decent audax pictures so this might be a big ask!) and so on. In terms of getting content on there, I vaguely imagine a small voluntary editorial group curating information provided by organisers (i.e. organisers wouldn't actually need to bother with using the site itself).
Possibly it might be useful to have some myth-busting side content like "do I really have to have a beard and wear socks and sandals" or "can I ride without a vintage 1920's steel frame and full mudguards" - who knows. It wouldn't need to be comprehensive - more a subset of rides for which particular organisers would like to make information more accessible and are open to the possibility that they might get a slightly larger field.
Having written this down, it seems (even to me) to sound a little bit like a rewrite of the AUK site, although that is not really what I'm trying to get at. Clearly the current AUK site works and that's fine by me - however I think an alternative format (where there's much more information on the individual rides and it's presented in a more accessible fashion) would have definite value.
For example, when trying to promote an event on your local club's website, wouldn't it be nice to be able to pop a link in to a page which has a map of the route on it, some pictures of the toughest climb/scenery/awesome cake stop (delete as appropriate depending on what sort of people you're advertising to ;P ), possibly some testimony from riders of previous editions ("it was the hardest thing I've ever done, never again" is probably not what we'd want though!)
I just wanted to drop this out as a thought experiment, particularly for any feedback from organisers or people who expressed dissatisfaction with the status quo on the other topic. Maybe it would never work, or just be extra effort for no significant gain - in which case, fair enough!
(PS. before anybody asks, I would envision volunteering myself on this, which should go without saying)